1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a tool for machining workpieces of wood, plastic material, or the like, the tool comprising a surface milling cutter and at least one plane head which supports cutting knives.
2. Description of the Related Art
In such a known tool (European patent application 0 559 577 A1) the surface milling cutter and the plane head with the cutting elements are connected to a common machine spindle. The workpiece which is moving through the corresponding machine is machined by the surface milling cutter on one lateral surface and by means of the cutting knives of the plane head on its bottom side. Since the workpieces are to be machined on all four sides when passing through a woodworking machine, the machine is provided with additional spindles on which a further surface milling cutter for machining the other lateral surface of the workpiece as well as an additional tool for machining the top side of the workpiece are provided. The machine accordingly is of a complex configuration and correspondingly expensive. Moreover, there are significant problems in regard to machining the two lateral surfaces of the workpiece, extending in the transport direction of the workpiece through the machine, precisely parallel to one another because the corresponding tools are seated on different spindles and must be adjusted independently of one another.
It is an object of the present invention to configure the tool of the aforementioned kind such that the workpiece can be machined with great precision.
In accordance with the present invention, this is achieved in that the tool has at least one additional surface milling cutter which is adjustable on the plane head relative to the other surface milling cutter.
By means of the tool according to the invention the workpiece is machined simultaneously on three sides. By means of the two surface milling cutters the lateral surfaces, extending in the transport direction of the workpiece through the machine, are machined while by means of the cutting knives of the plane head one outer side of the workpiece is machined. Accordingly, as the workpiece passes through the corresponding machine, it is only necessary to machine the other outer side of the workpiece. Since the two surface milling cutters are seated on the same spindle, the lateral surfaces of the workpiece can be machined absolutely straight and, in particular, absolutely parallel to one another which is a mandatory requirement for a subsequent adhesive bonding of the workpiece. Since the lateral surfaces of the workpiece are front-milled by the two surface milling cutters, they have an optimal surface area for the subsequent adhesive bonding process. As a result of the configuration according to the invention, the machine in which the tool according to the invention is employed requires only a minimal number of spindles so that the machine is of a constructively simple configuration and can be produced cost-efficiently without this reducing the machining quality and the machining precision. In the context of the present invention, the term plane head refers to a tool whose cutting knives can have straight or profiled cutting edges.